EMPLOYMENT 1 ANNUAL JOBS SURVEY
Salary changes
Annual figures for national-average typical salaries of:
Consultant – associate Consultant – principal
Consultant – intermediate Consultant – junior
Senior M&E contracts manager M&E contracts engineer Senior estimator Estimator
Contractor – operations director Contractor – operations manager
2011
44,405 39,136 27,145 19,818 39,000 33,045 39,818 32,409 51,182 44,364
2010 % change*
£45,769 £39,692 £27,408 £20,823 £40,684 £33,907 £40,400 £32,692 £51,700 £45,592
–3% –1% –1% –5% –4% –3% –1% –1% –1% –3%
*The regions from which data are collected have been reduced from 13 to 11 this year, so the salary changes are largely, but not exactly, comparable. (Source: Hays/CIBSE Journal. For full survey tables, go to
www.jobs.cibsejournal.com)
perceived as not suitable for women, by both women considering it and some men already working in the industry.’ Berry says that, while the sector has
historically been male-dominated, women increasingly are being attracted to the expanding sustainability sphere, which bodes well for the future. But he adds: ‘We need to keep thinking
about the longer term and developing homegrown talent, both male and female, or we’ll face a dire skills shortage when the market picks up.’
Salaries Pay stagnation varies by region Looking at the various types of
Getting a new job in building services over the past 12 months has meant accepting a salary that was at best the same level as the previous year, but frequently it meant taking a drop in salary, the survey found. While there will be some exceptions, on the whole there have been no salary increases for new starters, regardless of their job role in the sector. This stagnation is mirrored in the salary trends for those who have remained in their job, with 71% of employers surveyed stating that they have frozen pay and 61% of employees stating they have not had a pay rise in the past year; 68% of employers expect salaries to remain static this year.
42 CIBSE Journal May 2011
roles within the sector, geographical differences emerge. Salaries for mechanical, electrical and contract engineers, for example, have remained static across the board but there were marked falls in salaries in Wales, the West and East Midlands and Northern Ireland, reflecting the depth of the economic downturn in these areas. The most dramatic decreases were in the East Midlands, where staff saw the average wage for a new appointment fall 14% and in Northern Ireland, where senior staff salaries fell as much as 16%. In contrast, wages in the South have largely stayed the same,
Recovery hopes Both employers and employees, however, agree that the biggest issues that will impact on the construction industry in the coming five years are the UK government’s budget cuts and the pace of economic recovery. Among employers, 39% pointed to a
future recovery and the budget deficit as the main factors. Among employees the figures were 42% for a recovery and 24% for the deficit. Both sides agree that the third main
impact on the industry in coming years is ‘sustainability’ (cited by 23% of employees and 17% of employers). But one employer respondent who added a personal comment on this issue was scathing about the government’s sustainability agenda: ‘[It’s] sustainability for all the wrong reasons – it’s not properly understood and [is] driven by an incompetent government who do not know anything about it!’ Employees’ sense of job security has also
been hit in recent times: only 17% said they felt ‘more secure’ compared with last year. And less than half (49%) felt ‘fairly secure’ in their current job. One respondent to the question
commented: ‘Public sector posts are being cut, so job security is not guaranteed – [it’s] no longer a job for life. Also, the lower wages paid in the public sector are no longer balanced against more supportive overall terms and conditions.’
For the full survey tables, go to
www.jobs.cibsejournal.com
Also visit
www.hays.co.uk/building services
with typical salaries in both Central London and the South East, remaining at £40,000 and £36,000 in these regions. For contractors at management
level there are even greater disparities, with big reductions in pay packets, by as much as 13% in the South West, Wales and the Midlands, but quite dramatic rises, especially at senior level, where they are up by around 5%, in East Anglia, the North West and North East & Yorkshire. One of the most striking contrasts is the typical salary for an operations manager, which in Central London is now £62,000 compared to around £43,000 in the West Midlands.
Consultants in the sector have seen more average salaries remain stable. Intermediate level design engineers, for example, have seen the average salary in central London remain unchanged at around £34,000, while even in the Midlands pay has remained steady for this role, at £29,600 in the West Midlands and £28,000 in the East Midlands. But there have been notable salary decreases for junior engineering consultants (by as much as 14%) – the downturn has meant employers are focusing on recruiting more experienced professionals who can hit the ground running and don’t need training.
www.cibsejournal.com
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